The Eolas patent was bad news for the internet. It meant that millions of websites became less usable overnight. Depending on which side you are on, you would argue for or against Microsoft pushing the “security patch” that resulted in embedded objects requiring 2 clicks to be activated where they previously required 1. I believe they should have just coughed up the $40 million or so in order to ensure that users of IE had no degradation of their browsing experience.
So, reading today on CrunchGear about how Yahoo! have lodged a patent claim for a bunch of concepts concerned with the “creation of dynamic pages” I fear that the big news of 2007 may be Yahoo! enforcing their patents at the expense of innovation and user experience. I hope I am wrong!
A fantastic video, outlining the history and evolution of the internet. From humble, linear text beginnings, to user driven content where we become the machine. Fascinating viewing and a good 101 for those unsure of what this “whole web 2.0 thing” is about.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gmP4nk0EOE]
The premise that “we are the machine” is a little scary from an out there science fiction point of view. That much information about us, our habits, our likes and dislikes in the wrong, smart hands could be used to do all kinds of scary artificial intelligence stuff. Hell, this post could have me targeted by the machines as a conspirator against the machine uprising.
Well, I guess it’s time to read How to Survive a Robot Uprising again!!
CSS Play is an nice site, particularly if you are familiar with CSS. It demonstrates interactions built with CSS. This means that they are generally cross browser compliant, SEO friendly and light on bandwidth.
A few nice examples:
HallwayTesting is a place to add a URL and have people submit their usability reviews. While the site appears to have a few usability issues of its own (spelling mistakes, weird columns that don’t fit their text) it seems like an interesting concept.
